Archive for the ‘Skip Barber RT2000’ Category

Week 11 – Epic Race Splitting at Sebring!

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Had a very cool night last night. At short notice iRacing planned an ‘insiders night’ that involved a short Q&A session with one of the founding members of iRacing, Dave Kaemmer. It was an interesting night with some little snippets of information on future features such as the looming private league support and general service improvements. John Henry held an impromptu Q&A in a separate chat area which also revealed some interesting comments, such as confirmation that iRacing have had a dialogue with the FIA about a partnership but nothing imminent to come there (a bit of a non-story but interesting nontheless).

To cap off the night we were told iRacing staff would join the 01:15 Skip Barber race at Sebring International, and anticipation was very high for an epic set of races!

Skip Barber Race Results

Sebring

A total of 99 racers joined the race session (the highest I’ve been part of) and it looks like we spawned 8 packed grids. Ian Berwick, Tim Wheatley, Randy Cassidy, Dave Kaemmer and Divina Galica (all iRacing staff) all joined in on the action, although unfortunately my split had no staff participation.

The race itself was pretty good – it was a high SOF (3656) and I was rated 9th of 13 so I was just looking for a solid and consistent race. Sebring is challenging to drive in the Skippy as weight transfer is really hard to keep on top of, especially in the first and last corners of the lap. In the end I had a safe, if slightly forgettable drive to 6th place and 133 points.

Here are the results of all 8 race splits (clickable if you are an iRacing member…) :

SOF = 3656

SOF = 2708

SOF = 1946

SOF = 1542

SOF = 1436

SOF = 1317

SOF = 1302

SOF = 902

Week 5 round up

Monday, March 9th, 2009

I missed out a weeks race reports (including my first oval win via Trucks @ Vegas!) but I’m back with some week 5 news. My shifter is still just about holding up which is just as well as I don’t know what I’d replace it with if it completely broke.

Star Mazda Race Results

Laguna Seca

The Mazda series was at Laguna Seca (I love the track!) so I really enjoyed this race. Only 11 racers in total but a huge strength of field (over 3800!).

It was a tough race though; I started 7th and spent the majority of the race with someone snapping at my heels, waiting for a mistake. I did well to keep my composure but made a huge error under braking with 2 to go and missed a braking mark, leading to a self spin. I recovered and held on for a 7th place finish, and 96 points. The opposition were just too strong.

Chevy Silverado Race Results

My Chevy Silverado

I was a bit hesitant about racing at Bristol as my last two races here were very mixed. The first race saw me collect 16 incident points and quit early, the second saw me achieve a clean race (0x). I joined the race and we had a full grid of 20 cars! It was going to be mayhem….

And it was – lots of yellow flags and I was doing really well to avoid getting any incidents as I worked my way through the wrecked cars. Late in the race I did manage to get caught in someones wreck and had to reset :(

Towards the end of the race with 20 to go I took four new tyres when the rest of the front runners gambled on keeping their old rubber…. the gamble paid off and I finished third after restarting 6th. I might have been able to steal a win if the race had carried on a few more laps.

The good result sees me move into third place in my division (3). I definitely won’t challenge for the division but could be in with a shout for a podium placing if I keep up my good form!

Skip Barber Race Results

I really love the Lowe’s road course and especially love racing the Skip Barber here. I had two great races involving some really tight racing back and forth down the main oval section. I was also pleased to make some sizable speed gains compared to last seasons visit. I raced twice and average 111 points for the week – a good result.

Next week the series goes to a new track (Sebring)… should be a nice new challenge!

Week 3 – Mazdas at Lime Rock? No thanks!

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

I started the week with every intention to get a race in all three series but as I describe below it was not to be…

Star Mazda Race Results

Lime Rock Park

Star Mazda at Lime Rock Park you say? No thanks!

Tried a few practice sessions and quickly decided to avoid this combination. I don’t like it in the Skip Barber, so sure as hell would have struggled with the Star Mazda.

I took the safe option and decided to let this week be a drop week. Probably the best choice.

Chevy Silverado Race Results

My Chevy Silverado Phoenix International Raceway

Had a great race at Phoenix. Using a setup by Tyler Hudson I enjoyed a really memorable race where I slowly but surely used pit strategy to crawl my way to the front. I gambled on a two tyre stop with around 20 to go and managed to hold on for a strong second place finish. 133 points!

Skip Barber Race Results

Summit Point Raceway

I always seem to get a good result at Summit Point Full so I tend to look forward to racing here. I qualified second and had the best start I’ve ever had. Actually it was so very nearly a jump start as I set off before I’d even seen a green light (a complete mistake) but amazingly, my start actually coincided with the green light and somehow fortune was on my side and I made a cracking getaway!

I didn’t have the pace to win though, and fell back into second, pressing on for a strong finish. Halfway through the race my G25 shifter broke and started giving me upshifts instead of downshifts about 30% of the time (not fun!). I had to nurse my ailing car to the finish for a strong second place, and 135 points.

Now I have to figure out how to replace this sorry shifter without breaking the bank!